A Big Hello From Naples
The Italian High-Speed Train makes it from Rome-to-Naples in 70 minutes. Our train yesterday (Thursday) was the Milan-Rome-Naples train, which arrived in Rome about five minutes late and spent less than 10 minutes unloading and loading. We had four assigned seats with a table, The train was just as good as the French and German high-speed trains. Lots of comfort and a top speed of about 200 mph. There really isn’t anything quite like train travel. Most of the trip was through green rolling hills, between mountain ranges that were separated by about 15 miles (surprisingly we saw some snow-capped peaks). There were some hill top and hillside towns, but most notably houses scattered over the entire expanse, as if someone had tried to dot the land with the houses spaced equa-distant. There was a fair amount of farm land and it was obvious that this was not the French Riviera.
If you read about Naples it sounds like lots of folks are poor. They say that after World War II (Naples was Italy’s most bombed city) that during the 1950 and 1960s that Naples really struggled with poverty and many people migrated to Argentina and the United States. A tour book notes, “If you like Italy as far south as Rome, go father south, it gets better. If Italy is getting on your nerves, don’t go farther. Italy intensifies as you plunge deeper. Naples is Italy in the extreme. “ All you read and hear about is the mafia and government corruption. Naples is Europe’s most densely populated city. And, another tour book note, “Watching the police try to enforce traffic sanity is almost comical in Italy’s grittiest, most polluted, and most crime-ridden city.” Unemployment is 36%. Need anything more be said.
So, we arrived at mid-afternoon to a surprisingly modern train station. Out the front door was chaos. Cars going every which way, rough cobblestone streets, construction for a new subway line, and lots of taxi cabs lined up. We jumped in a cab to go less than one mile to our bed and breakfast. Well, after about 30 seconds I thought I was in Mexico City. I’ve never been to Mexico City, but at least I was in a maddening city with rough streets, old buildings, crazy traffic and who knows what would come next. Down a main street drove the cabby. It reminded me of the bad sections of downtown Detroit in the 1950s and early 1960s. The cab stopped in front of a building with a door large enough to drive a truck through, lots of sidewalk retail and lots of trash thrown wherever and apparently rarely cleaned up. We entered and went up to the Barone’s bed and breakfast on the 4th floor.
Well, the Barone’s have three rooms they rent out, one room that their son lives in (if I understand broken English with an Italian accent, he’s in the process of a 10-year study program), and their home. In between is a lobby area. The building is a combination residential and commercial. Mr. and Mrs. Barone are about 50-years-old and she could not be more charming and accommodating. Go to the photos and you’ll see a couple of photos of our room, with Sophia in one of her exciting moments. Our room has one window looking out, which is to the center courtyard of the building. Marz and I went for a walk after we arrived yesterday and hit the waterfront. On the way we watched a typical European neighborhood football match (small pitch with Astroturf that had to be 50 years old), this one played adjacent to a small children’s amusement center. We saw the typical European statue, in front of which Marlene posed. By the way, the dark object right behind her is a ship in Naples Bay awaiting docking. Nearby, we came upon a fisherman, who seemed to be jumping out of his seat. Not sure what he might have been thinking or if he actually caught something. There’s a photo of Marlene on the waterfront (this section being down the way from the center of the city), and yes, Mt. Vesuvius does loom over the city of Naples.
Thursday ended with the group going to a restaurant which, according to our host, had the best pizza in Naples. No. Not so, at least we hoped not. We like our scout’s personality, but we’re not sure of her ability to make strong judgments.
Our only full-day in Naples is Friday (today), so the story of our goal to go to the Archaeological Museum, a great pizza place for lunch, and then a city tour bus trip is coming up next.
The Wilsons
